Leo Thorsness found out about Medal of Honor through tapping code while imprisoned at "Hanoi Hilton"

The Huntsville TimesLeo Thorsness of Madison lead the effort to bring a Medal of Honor winners gathering to Huntsville.

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- It was April 19, 1967, when then-U.S. Air Force Lt. Leo Thorsness and his wingman attempted to knock out a surface-to-air missile site in North Vietnam.

Flying an F-105 "Wild Weasel," Thorsness attacked and silenced one site with air-to-ground missiles and then used bombs to destroy a second surface-to-air missile site.

In a second attack, Thorsness' wingman was shot down and the two crewmembers bailed out. Thorsness was running low on fuel, but he returned to the site of the abandoned aircraft to defend his crew members against hostile MIG aircraft circling overhead, destroying one MIG that had taken aim on the parachuting crew.

Only 10 days later, Thorsness was shot down and imprisoned in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" in North Vietnam.

"I had been in prison about two years and was using a secret tap code to communicate to other prisoners of war between cells," Thorsness remembers. "One day, I got a message through the wall saying: 'Lieutenant, did you know that you have been nominated for the Medal of Honor?'"

Thorsness, who retired as a colonel and now lives in Madison, spent six years as a prisoner of war before he was released. Almost seven years had passed by the time he received his Medal of Honor.

"When I came home, I found out my Medal nomination had been approved," Thorsness said, his blue eyes sparkling. "I was amazed."

Thorsness, now 78, is now president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and presided over a gala honoring 24 Medal of Honor recipients from across the country gathering at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration Saturday night.

Most of these elite servicemen don't like to be called heroes, Thorsness said.

"I think all Medal of Honor recipients would very sincerely say that they are proud and humbled to have received the Medal of Honor, but they know fellow soldiers who are as - or more - deserving than they," he says. "Nonetheless, we try to represent the Medal well."

The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor given to members of the U.S. military who perform an act above and beyond the call of duty while in combat. These acts must have been witnessed by at least two servicemen.

"If someone did not do the act for which they received the Medal of Honor, no one would criticize them," Thorsness said. "The most meaningful aspect is that it's recommended by your peers.

"We (recipients) are cautious about making sure that we treat the Medal of Honor with respect because it is supposed to be held as the apex of all other awards for service," he said. "You may not respect the person holding it, but you respect the Medal and what it symbolizes."

Thorsness has written a book, "Surviving Hell," recounting his six years in captivity. It started, he said, as a letter to his granddaughter, "but it got too long." Then a publisher picked it up, he said.

"I learned a lot in Hanoi. When I first came back (to the U.S.), several people asked me to write a chronology of what we (prisoners) did," Thorsness said. "After years of hindsight, I decided to write in a deeper perspective about my experiences and what they taught me - ways in which we survived, passed time and learned what's important in life."

Even though he received the Medal of Honor, Thorsness said he is no more deserving of credit than anyone else on the battlefield.

"In my case it was a rescue mission, where I was trying to rescue my wingman who had been shot down," Thorsness said. "I was just doing my job."

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society is so called because it was created by an act of Congress. The medal itself is simply called the Medal of Honor, though many mistakenly call it the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Thorsness said it is an organization comprised of both living and deceased Medal of Honor recipients. He describes his role as president in two ways.

"One is that I am staying in touch with 90 elderly guys, and two is that being president is like trying to herd cats because every Medal of Honor recipient would not be a recipient if he didn't live on the edge a little bit," Thorsness said. "He wouldn't have thrown his life into the middle of combat or thrown himself onto hand grenades, unless he wanted to risk his life to go above and beyond the call of duty."